Atos Origin in play

It’s not surprising Blackstone has been in talks with Atos Origin. Shares in the French IT firm have fallen by almost 40% in the last six months, following a profit warning in the summer. Until news of Blackstone’s interest leaked on Thursday, the shares were trading at just 11 times estimated 2007 earnings, a substantial discount to the sector. That reflects fears that Atos is losing ground to rivals such as Cap Gemini in its core outsourcing and systems integration businesses and is struggling...